Ah, I came 9th again.
9th of probably 40, Final Fight 5, 10 December 2016, Wollongong Australia -
http://wollongongfgc.challonge.com/ff5sws
2-0'd everyone in my pool except the first seed, and much more decisively got out than the last time, which was my only real goal going in, to ensure that the last Final Fight wasn't a fluke and that I can get through by more than just the skin of my teeth.
Once in bracket, I immediately lost to Kristoph, which I expected, considering he won the last Final Fight and came third this time. I had hoped I would get at least one game since he wasn't using his main, but he kept pivot grabbing me with Bowser. And then regular grabbing me with Bowser. C'est la vie.
I won in the first round of losers against a Bayonetta, but I was flying by the seat of my pants for it, since I can count the number of times I've played against Bayonetta on one hand, all outside of a tournament and mostly online. In the end I got a fortunate Lylat un-techable stage spike.
Finally I lost to Eman, who ran a Yoshi train on me. I tried Final Destination, Dream Land, and Lylat; I think I should have stuck with FD. I couldn't find a way to secure a grab or move around Yoshi's hitboxes. I felt like I more or less understood what I needed to do from some previous experience, but clearly I have more work to do.
So top 8 (in a bracket with more than eight players) eludes me still. I can feel when I play players who make top 8 consistently that there is a definite difference in skill. It's been a little over a year since I started competitive play, and I've managed to reach the same point in a different bracket. What used to be barely getting anywhere in the amateur bracket is now barely getting anywhere in the pro bracket. So I suppose I'm making progress.
Honestly, I was worried I wouldn't do well today. My stomach didn't feel great on the drive up, and I didn't have a good breakfast like I usually do before a tournament. I don't think I was on complete autopilot, since I was doing good reset combos in friendlies, and making good up smash reads and DI reactions throughout the day. Maybe I
was on autopilot; Lucas' autopilot is one of the best in the game. Whether that was the case or not, I did well, and I was consistent from last time.
I like going out of town for tournaments, since it lets me gauge how well I can do against fresh opponents. Even though the seeding and player placement was hot garbage in both bracket and pools, and even though there were fewer entrants, and even though it was considerably more stacked than last time, I had a bunch of fun. Every time I go back to Wollongong I'll be told that they have a few Lucas players there, or that someone I'm playing plays a bit of Lucas and knows what he can do. Maybe it's a coincidence, but I'm 90% sure that is entirely because of me; the very first time I went there I 2-0'd one of their best players and nobody there played Lucas. And even though more of them know how to play him or fight him now, I still do really well.
I can't help but wonder if I'll be unseeded and basically a nobody every single time, though. Maybe if I break through and get top 3 the TOs will remember me. It's a little exhausting having to face a first and second seed when you have the skill of a second seed yourself.
EDIT: Also two stock is awful. I swear I could have gotten out of my pool first if it was three stock.